House prices in Catalonia plummeted by 14.6% in the first quarter of 2012
House prices have dropped for 17 consecutive quarters in Catalonia. Last quarter’s drop was the highest since the crisis in the sector began in 2008, falling by 14.6% in the last 12 months. In Spain as a whole, house prices dropped by 11.8%.
Madrid (ACN).- House prices in Catalonia continue to drop. At the end of the first quarter of 2012, they had fallen by 14.6%, according to the Spanish Institute for Statistics (INE). The sale price of flats and houses in Catalonia have been decreasing for 17 consecutive quarters and last quarter’s 14.6% drop was the highest since the sector crises started in 2008. For the whole of Spain, housing prices dropped by 11.8%, which is also the highest decrease since this data began to be collected by the INE in 2007. Second-hand housing prices have faired slightly better, but have still dropped by 13.6%.
Sale prices of new-construction housing in Catalonia had dropped by 18% at the end of March, compared to 12 months earlier. The fall registered at the end of the last quarter of 2011 was 13.3%, almost double the fall registered at the end of September 2011. This confirms the trend that in the last quarters, new-construction housing prices drop at a more severe pace. In fact, never before had an 18% drop been registered, as in 2009, when the financial crisis was hitting hard the Spanish real state bubble, there were 10% and 11% decreases.
Second-hand housing prices resist better, but fell by 13.6%
Second-hand housing prices in Catalonia improved in relation to the last quarter of 2011, when they decreased by 14.8% in relation to the end of 2010. However, they continued to significantly fall, as they dropped by 13.6% at the end of March 2012, compared to one year ago. Second-hand housing prices in Catalonia did not have the exact same behaviour as new-built flats and houses. For instance its worst drop is not in the current year, but in the first term of 2009, when they fell by 16.4%.
In Spain, prices dropped by 11.2%
Housing prices fell by 11.8% in Spain at the end of March compared to one year ago. In Catalonia, second-hand housing prices were those that plummeted the most, falling by 13.7%. New-built housing prices decreased by 11.2%. Housing prices dropped throughout Spain, in all the Autonomous Communities, as they did at the end of 2011.